


Chaos Is What Killed The Dinosaurs, Darling

by FrostedGemstones22



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Based on Heathers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22096711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostedGemstones22/pseuds/FrostedGemstones22
Summary: Bonnie Bennet has a plan for her senior year. Get through it alive, move far away. She doesn't plan on accidentally becoming one of the most popular girls at school no more than she plans to fall for the moody new kid, Kai Parker. She's drawn to him in a way that she knows is dangerous, but there's just something about him...Inspired by both the movie and the musical, but drawn from the musical more heavily!
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett/Malachai "Kai" Parker
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Beautiful, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kai pre-merge is JD from the movie and Kai post-merge is JD from the musical and in this essay I will-

“First day of senior year, Bon! Are you ready?” 

Bonnie was a million miles away. As her fingers traced the droplets of water splashing on the car’s window, her mind was anywhere but here.

Senior Year hadn’t even really started, but already, it could go die in a hole. 

“Bonnie!” 

Bonnie jolted as Elena jolted her shoulder, hard. She startled, hitting her head on the top of Elena’s car, instantly snapping back to reality. Elena was grinning, as though she’d caught Bonnie doing something hilarious. 

“Someone didn’t get enough sleep last night,” Elena teased, “Up too late stalking Kol on his Insta?” 

“No,” Bonnie said quickly, face turning red, not because she was caught in a lie, but because she was half-way furious Elena was even thinking that, “And I wasn’t sleeping. I was just...thinking.” 

“‘Bout?” 

She hesitated. Bright and cheery Elena surely didn’t want to hear about the dark thoughts that plagued her mind. Her childhood best friend seemed always so happy. Empty sometimes, but at least happy. If only Bonnie were so lucky. 

The thing about Kol? Entirely untrue. It was a misplaced minor crush more than anything, and someone Bonnie hadn’t even considered since Freshman year. However, Elena just couldn’t seem to let it drop, even if Bonnie hadn’t shown any real interest in three years. 

“I just want you to have something good in your life, Bonnie. Something beautiful.” 

Ah, that’s what she always said, wasn’t it? Something  _ beautiful.  _

Life wasn’t though, certainly not High School. High School was hell and Bonnie was just one bad joke or another bully causing trouble away from checking out the rest of the year. 

“I just…” Bonnie bit her lip, trying to decide if she was going to tell Elena or not. Elena pulled her old clunker into a parking space and Bonnie sat back, watching the streams of people converging at the front steps. Friends hugged after a long summer break, girls gossiped, football boys checked out the incoming Freshman. 

“We’ve known most of these kids all our life, right?” Bonnie finally said. 

“Yeah.” 

Mystic Falls wasn’t very big. It wasn’t even a flyover city, it was a city left off most maps. Most of the kids here had been born and would similarly die here, something that Bonnie would kill herself first if that was the case. She couldn’t wait to get out of here, go on, do something. She wasn’t sure if Elena understood this. Elena, who as kind as she was, always seemed complacent with her place. 

“I just look around and wonder...what happened?” 

Elena regarded Bonnie for a second. She grasped her bookbag, snorting lightly. 

“What do you mean?” 

Bonnie stared at Elena’s face, unable to answer. Not truly, at least.

“Do you mean,” Elena started again, “How did time go by so fast? I mean, it felt like yesterday we were like six!” 

Bonnie’s laugh was rough, “Yeah, E. That’s it. That’s it.” 

Elena kissed her cheeks, “Oh, Bonnie! I knew you were a mushy-hearted one somewhere. I’ll see you in English.” 

Bonnie sighed. Better allow Elena to think that sentiment than what Bonnie really thought. 

What she was really wondering is when everyone turned into such unmitigated assholes. 

They’d all been young once, as Elena had so unaptly realized. Bonnie liked to imagine that everyone was good, somewhere. She held onto this belief like a life-line. If she thought everyone was unsavable, then what was the point of any of these jerks she had to spend eight hours a day with? How could any of them be redeemable people if Bonnie didn’t think there was a sliver of goodness left? 

As she dodged people who literally found her invisible, she kept reminding herself of this. 

Elena hadn’t been too far off, she supposed. They’d all been young once. Pure, unblemished, simple. The star linebacker had eaten paste like it was candy, and they’d all played stupid playground games. No one had cared who was who and the biggest issue was who was going to sleep where at nap time. 

And then they’d grown up.

Most people? Into monsters. 

Some may argue that it was hard to be a monster by the ripe age of eighteen. To those naysayers, Bonnie would argue they’d completely forgotten what it meant to be in high school or they’d been so fortunate to never attend. 

Most people were some form of bad. Most people had changed from their care-free childhood days, and not at all for the better. 

Bonnie, on the average, thought herself a good person. She knew there were some parts of her that were unsavory (the dreams of darkness that came most nights, sure, or her judgy personality…) but she considered herself higher up than the majority of these a-holes. But, try as she might, she hadn’t figured out what was the big difference between her change and the entirely different change of her contemporaries. 

“Just one more year and then college, just one more year and then college, just one more year…” Bonnie whispered his mantra under her breath as she shouldered her way through the halls. She kept her head down, mostly curling herself into a ball, trying to be practically unseen. Unseen was better than ridiculed. 

Someone came barreling into her side. She lost her balance for a second, turning to see a kid skittering across the ground.

“Hey, you okay?” She asked, offering her hand.

“Get away, weirdo,” The kid said, spitting at her offer. Which, was honestly? Not cool. If he was getting shoved to the ground, it wasn’t like he was in higher standings than her.

Though, ever since  _ they,  _ as in ‘T-H-E-Y’ decided they hadn’t liked Bonnie, life hadn’t been easy for her. 

“Whatever, sorry,” Bonnie muttered. 

As the kid scampered away with hopefully on some bruised ribs, Bonnie bit back a frustration. Life was so much bigger outside of these stupid four walls and wonderful things were happening every day. No, what had Elena said? Beautiful. Yes, beautiful things were a better way to describe it.

But Bonnie was stuck in here with people she feared would never, ever change.

However, the smallest part of her that was still someone who did care, hoped they may. 

She managed to dig her way through the crowd of people to the locker of her best friend, Liv. While Elena may have been a friend for longer, no one understood things like Liv and her understood each other. 

She was wearing what Liv always wore; something black, something fish-nety, something ripped. It was this mixture of gothic rebellion that landed her as the number one freak of Mystic High. Some kids were bullied because of their weight, or their hair. Liv was the biggest target because she was weird and dark and sharp on her sides. While lots of kids blended in, Liv stood out.

Which, to people with low-self confidence, was obviously an issue. 

“Hey girl,” Bonnie greeted, “Is it sad it’s not even first period and I just want the school day to be over?” 

“Nope,” Liv said, fixing her black lipstick in her locker mirror, “Hey, we on for movie night?” 

“Of course, it’s a tradition,” Bonnie guffawed. The best way to fix the new-school-year-blues was with a movie night. Of course, now that they were older, it was more about bitching about their classmates and drinking wine, but it was still deeply cathartic. 

“I got popcorn. You got a movie?” 

“The Princess Bride, of course,” Liv said, pulling the DVD from her backpack. Bonnie smiled something watery at Liv. 

“Even though we’ve seen it two million times?” 

“Even then. I just like a happy ending,” She said. 

Sometimes, Bonnie felt like she and Liv were two sides of the same coin. While Liv portrayed this idea of a deeply dark person, she was so unflappably light inside of her. She was someone who wanted to believe in the goodness, more so than Bonnie. Perhaps she needed it. 

Bonnie was someone who, she thought in general, portrayed herself as an average person. It was only in the darkest parts of her mind did she allow the truly nasty things to shake loose. The doubts, the toxic whispers, the fantasies...things she wasn’t even sure she could tell Liv. 

Liv closed her locker door. Her usual resting bitch face evaporated into something much softer, something deeply yearning. Bonnie didn’t even have to follow her line of sight to know where it landed.

“Liv,” She whined, “Seriously?” 

Liv bit her lip, looking down, “What?” She bitched out, “I wasn’t looking at anything.”

A straight lie. She was making moon-eyes at Tyler Lockwood, star line-backer and complete dick. She’d had it bad for him since...since, basically forever. Tyler, of course, hardly gave her the time of day. Unless it was to make fun of her.

Bonnie supposed she clung to whatever it was, as weird as their interactions were. It was so obvious to Liv that she was wasting her time with this future gas station attendant, a guy who was going to peak in high school and never stop wearing his letterman jacket, but trying to convince Liv of this? Impossible.

“Oh god, he’s coming over,” Bonnie muttered, trying hard not to vomit, “With his little lap dog…”    
Tyler was one form of hatred, but his best friend Matt was a whole other. Mostly because Bonnie knew that Matt was much smarter than he let himself act like. That, if he stopped being like this, he might actually do something with his life. They’d been friends once, in the way that everyone had been friends as children. While Bonnie had never liked Tyler, she’d hoped Matt would be different. 

Her mistake. 

“Hey Satan’s whore, sacrificed any bodies today?” Tyler asked cruelly as he passed, slamming Bonnie into a locker as though she wasn’t even worth the effort to bully. 

“Eat a dick, Lockwood,” Liv spat out, but she didn’t mean it. Bonnie only hoped Tyler would never see through her. 

“Tell me,” Tyler said, closing in on her, “Is it true you bathe in blood?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know. Fuel your jerk off sessions for the whole year, eh?” 

Tyler snorted, “As if.” 

“Liv.” Bonnie snapped as the bell was ringing, “We have class.” 

“My god, she talks,” Matt crooned, “I thought you’d forgotten how.” 

“Shut up, Donovan,” Bonnie hissed, grasping Liv firmly and pulling her through the crowd, away from Tyler and Matt who were cackling like hyenas, “God, I just...you need to get over him.” 

“I think if he remembered what we were like before, he’d be more interested,” Liv said earnestly, “He’s just acting like that for the sake of high school. We all gotta wear masks, you know?” 

“Oh,” Bonnie sighed, feeling sort of sorry for her, “Or, he’s just a jerk.” 

Mystic Falls was a small enough school that Bonnie, quite unfortunately, knew every single person who attended. Even most freshmen, she had a good idea of their identities, so mostly the waves of faces felt rather monotonous. As she tugged Liv into their homeroom, she was expecting to see the same bored faces she’d seen every day since she was five.

But there was a new one. 

In the sea of color and Instagram worthy first-day outfits, there was an outlier. Someone wearing all black. Someone wearing heavy things, much too heavy for the heat of Mystic Falls in early August. 

He was ignoring everything. It was like he existed outside of the realm of his current sweltering classroom, like the people who were being too loud next to him were little more than flies buzzing around.

Bonnie was staring. 

She couldn’t help it. Maybe it was because he was a new face. Maybe it’s because his attitude was intriguing. Or maybe it was something else that at this time she could not quantify, but she was inexplicably drawn to him. It was as though, on some molecular level, she recognized a similarity between the pair of them, even if at this point in time, she did not know it. 

Or maybe she did. Maybe she knew it from his eyes.

She’d look back on this moment, and when she really thought about it, she’d recall how his eyes were so flat. Like two discs, but with no information on it. How they were hard, unfeeling, uncaring. At the time, she’d perhaps wrongly assumed it was a simple disdain for high school. 

“He’s...new…” Bonnie muttered, the words slipping out before she could stop herself.

As he turned, Bonnie felt her face flush. She was interested, and also rather, unfortunately, attracted. 

It was her plan to ignore all things boys her entire time here, sans her unfortunate crush on Kol so long ago. Day one of senior year and already that was going down the drain. 

“Oh, damn, right,” Liv said, smacking her head, “I forgot to tell you my cousin is transferring here. Who knows how long, but my mom thought it would be good for him to have ‘some stability’.” 

“Your...cousin?” Bonnie echoed, brain firing to make the connections as Liv talked, “Him?” 

She’d heard about Liv’s cousin once or twice in passing, but never more than a vague idea. She had no idea that it was a boy their age, where he’d lived previously, or even what he was called.

Instantly, she tried to shutter her desire for him. 

“Yep. Offered to give him a ride today, said he’d rather walk. Weirdo. Didn’t know we had the same homeroom.” Liv said, completely uncaring. 

Bonnie knew Liv wasn’t going to offer more up. She was dying for more information, but he was cloaked in mystery for right now, or so it seemed. 

Bonnie’s name was always right upfront in terms of seating charts. As Mr. Tanner went through the list, Bonnie gave a wave of acknowledgment, though it wasn’t needed. She’d had Tanner for History all four years. 

She could feel Liv’s cousin look at her. If only for a second, as he did with everyone. Or, so she thought. Maybe he was examining her longer because she was sitting next to Liv? She would likely never know. 

She kept her head down, refusing to meet his gaze. 

“Parker, Elizabeth?” 

“Yep, here, here,” Liv raised a tired hand. 

“Parker…” There was a pause. Mr. Tanner was squinting at the list.

“It’s pronounced Malachai,” Liv’s cousin said. His voice was silky, even, and dark. It sent a shiver up her back, “Pretty shitty name, wouldn’t you say? Dad’s been making my life miserable since day one.” His laughter was the only sound in the room as everyone sat, as though transfixed by him. There was something easy-going to his tone, though Bonnie saw right through it. He was the type that made friends easily but liked none of them, “Let’s not make the same mistake. You can call me Kai.” 


	2. Beautiful, Part 2

Bonnie pressed her forehead against the cool metal walls of the bathroom stall. She groaned lightly into her hand, wincing and wondering how long she could manage to hide out in here. 

That new kid, Kai? 

She couldn’t describe it. It was like something was tugging her to him, some unseen force pushing her. Manipulating her thoughts. Moving her soul. 

She had known him all of ten minutes and she was bewitched in a way she thought impossible. There was something to him she couldn’t quite place and she was all too curious to unravel it, reveal it all. 

Liv was too busy writing Tyler’s name over her notebook to notice how preoccupied Bonnie was with him, but she was sure that he knew. She was sure that from his hidden smirk, his dark eyes and his raised eyebrow when he subtly turned toward her, he was incredibly aware he was being watched. 

As the bell rang, just before he slid out of the classroom, he turned to her. 

“You’re Liv’s best friend?” He asked, chin raised and expression shuttered as he stood, tightly trained on her. 

“Bonnie, yeah,” Bonnie managed in reply, holding her books tight against her chest, trying to ignore the electricity that seemed to zap between them. God, she sounded insane, didn’t she? 

“Hmm.” Was all he said, a curious hum. He leaned over her fingers to see the edge of her class schedule peeking out. “Well, it seems we have chemistry together.”

“Huh?” Bonnie said, heart, leaping in her throat.

“The class. Fourth period,” Kai said, his eyes laughing, but it wasn’t the lighthearted kind she expected to see. There was something ominous about it, “See you later Bonster.” 

She’d taken refuge in the bathroom right after third period. Half-way a mixture of lust and half-way a mixture of unknown shame, she felt as though she was not mentally prepared enough to venture back out into class. She didn’t know how to face him, not after she was so ineloquent in front of him, not when there was something weird going on altogether. 

She heard the door opening right as the bell rang to signal the start of fourth. 

“Rebekah, where’s my lipstick?” Someone snapped. 

“Sorry, it’s right-,” 

“I’m waiting.” There was a slam of the stall next to Bonnie and a long sigh from outside, “Again? That’s twice in one day and it’s hardly even lunch.” 

Bonnie’s mood soured instantly. She sucked in a hard breath, now wanting to be anywhere but this bathroom. 

There was no question that lingering outside the door was the untouchable trio of the Heathers; Caroline Heather Forbes, Rebekah Heather Mikaelson, and Vicky Heather Donovan. 

Bonnie used to be best friends with Caroline, funnily enough. Her, Elena, and Caroline were three peas in a pod when they were in elementary school before Liv moved here. It wasn’t Liv’s arrival that broke up the group. What changed Caroline and made Bonnie and Elena stay the same, Bonnie couldn’t say. It was like one day Caroline woke up and decided she was going to be popular and thus she was. 

Somehow, the two lackeys came later. Materialized from thin or the will of Caroline’s being or something. 

There had been the general acknowledgment in their youth that these three girls all shared a middle name, but it was nothing more than a fun playground fact until middle school. Apparently, there was something in the air when parents were picking out girl’s middle names in the early nineties. Bonnie and Elena, regrettably, did not share this weird coincidence, however, Bonnie would have doubted that it would have made a difference. Sure, when she was twelve, she used to be upset she wasn’t a ‘Heather’ too, she liked to think she moved on from it.

Somehow, as every good high school girl gang needs a totally annoying name, they ended up being dubbed as ‘The Heathers’ by the rest of the school. 

Bonnie wished she could just not give a damn about them.

She really, really, really did. 

But she was a little bitter, alright? High school seemed so easy for all of them, whereas it seemed like a war every single day for Bonnie. She wasn’t sure how they did it all; got good grades, dated the most popular boys, reigned supreme...it was like one of those shitty ‘pick two, can’t have all three’, except they did have all three. Some parts of Bonnie had been trying to analyze it for years with little success. 

There was vomiting from the stall next to Bonnie. 

Vicky. Perpetually on ‘something’ and usually barfing up everything before 10 A.M. You thought you had mental issues? You had nothing on Vicky and her wide array of mental or physical shortcomings, most all in her mind. 

“You okay?” Rebekah asked, leaning too close for comfort on Bonnie's stall door. 

“Fine,” Vicky responded, but she hardly sounded fine. 

Rebekah was rich as hell from...well, from something, and her personality seemed to revolve mostly around that. The only other notable thing about her was that she was a cheerleader, which was just so predictable, wasn’t it? 

“Bulimia is so last year, honestly,” Caroline drawled from outside, a tinge of disgust in her voice. She’d been kind once, Bonnie recalled. Just as quickly as she’d dropped her old friends, she’d found a personality that was completely different. She was what Bonnie would call a mythic bitch. All of her insults probably should be written for posterity by their utter genius and sheer levels of destruction. 

Not that the other two didn’t know how to make you want to sob behind the school. Maybe that was the clue to never being bothered...be mean enough that you always threw the first punch. Most people wilted and never got around to insulting them in the first place. 

The door opened a second time to the bathroom. 

“Girls, why did I predict you’d be lingering in here?” 

“Ew, Mr. Saltzman,” Caroline huffed, “This is the girl’s room.” 

“If you were in class, then I don’t think I’d need to be checking,” He said, “Detention, all three of you.” 

Bonnie grabbed her notebook, taking out a yellow slip from the back pocket. She wasn’t sure what possessed her. Call it Kai’s presence had fried her brain and good sense, call it that she didn’t want to be on Saltzman’s shit list either and have to return to the fourth period, or call it senior-year goodwill. Whatever it was, Bonnie was suddenly furiously scribbling.

“Actually, uhm,” Bonnie said, opening the bathroom door to the surprise of everyone, “We’re all on a hall-pass.” 

There was silence from the Heathers behind her (sans Vicky still upchucking whatever Starbucks she’d gotten on the way here) and from Alaric Saltzman in front of her. 

“Fine,” He said after a long moment, biting out the words with a sense of frustration and defeat, “Just...get where you need to go.” 

He handed it back to her, letting the door he was holding open with his foot slam behind him. 

“Who are you?” Rebekah asked, narrowing her eyes at Bonnie as though she’d never seen her before. Which, honestly, she might not have. At least, not registered it. 

Caroline plucked the hall-pass from Bonnie’s fingers.

“Excellent forgery,” She commented, a question existing without saying it specifically. 

“I picked it up in art class,” Bonnie said, “Wasn’t good at much else, but I was great at copying fonts and all.” She said breezily. She’d never tried something so bold, though she’d done little things. She’d managed to memorize both of her parent’s signatures, as well as her grandmother’s, “I crave a boon.” 

“From a nobody like you?” Vicky sneered, wiping the back of her hand over her mouth. 

“Shut up,” Caroline said, sending Vicky a hard glare. Vicky shrunk under her stare.

“Sorry,” She mumbled like a puppy kicked by its owner. 

Caroline turned back to Bonnie, fingers creasing the edge of the paper. 

“I’d like to just get through this senior year without dying,” Bonnie said, the words spilling out in one breath, “So you spread around to everyone that I’m not to be bothered and we call this even. I can also do report cards...permission slips...absence notes…”   
“Prescriptions?” Vicky piped up, though was silenced by a glare from Rebekah as well as Caroline again. 

“Maybe it’s a trade,” Bonnie finished with a shrug, “Just, consider it.” 

Caroline was, from the looks of it. Bonnie willed the good-natured and the former friendship they’d once had to prevail, though she wasn’t sure that Caroline recalled any of that. She wouldn’t be surprised if Caroline hadn’t burned all their childhood pictures and wiped any memories of Elena or Bonnie from her mind. 

“You know, Bonnie, you’ve always been attractive.” 

From all the things that could exit Caroline’s lips, this was the least expected.

“Uhm, thanks?” 

“Very symmetrical face,” Rebekah said, circling Bonnie like a shark, “That’s very important.” 

“You could stand to lose a few pounds, though,” Vicky snapped, poking Bonnie sharply with manicured nails. 

“This could work.” 

“What?” Bonnie asked, failing to understand what the three Heathers had picked up on that she somehow hadn’t. 

“You want a trade, how about this? If you’re a Heather, you don’t get bothered. We could use someone like you.” 

“I’m sorry, you want me to join your group?” Bonnie asked, a wheezing laugh escaping her lips, “You’re serious.” 

“If you want to be bullied the rest of the semester…” Caroline shrugged, “I mean, I couldn’t compare, but I suppose…” 

“No jokes, no hidden cameras, right?” Bonnie asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. 

“It’s our senior year. We could certainly benefit from someone to help us skip days or get out of class whenever we’re not feeling it. You’re presentable enough, maybe with a few tweaks, to pass as part of our group. That’s what you want in return, isn’t it? Immunity.” 

“Well, yes, I guess that…” Bonnie licked her lips, “Okay, yes. Yes.” She said, nodding hard. All she could think was that senior year was going to be a breeze like this. If she had the fortune and the patronage of the Heathers, for a very small fee, she’d be well on her way to success. 

“How long does this have us out for?” Caroline asked out loud, turning the hall-pass to read the scribbled writing.

“All period, if needed,” Bonnie said, having done so mostly for herself rather than their benefit. 

“Fantastic, we’ll need the time.” 

She snapped her fingers and both of the other girls dove into their backpacks, fishing out bags onto the sink’s countertops. 

“To do what?” 

“To get you ready to be presented to the school, of course. If you’re going to be one of us,” Caroline said, backing Bonnie into a wall, holding a tube of lipgloss like it was a knife, “You’re going to need to look it. Rebekah, find me my makeup brushes.” 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoy this, remember to drop a kudo and a comment!


End file.
